To generate a vaccine, a pathogen must be rendered harmless but still contain sufficient antigenic information to allow virulent wild-type pathogens to be recognized by the immune system. Attenuation of viruses is a tedious, somewhat haphazard, process which greatly slows down the process of developing vaccines. The researchers involved in manipulating the pathogens are also at risk of infection, even with stringent containment protocols. There is an urgent need to speed up the process of vaccine production. Viruses such as influenza are jumping back and forth between humans and animals, mutating slightly as they change hosts. Some of these species transitions have caused pandemics, such as the avian to human jump in 1918 of Influenza A (H1N1) that killed between 20 and 100 million people worldwide. Such a large reservoir of rapidly changing viruses makes it difficult for the medical community to keep ahead of the need to protect humans and animals against disease agents.
Molecular biological techniques have been used to speed up the process of vaccine development and to make them safer. Recombinant vectors containing genes encoding structural proteins HA and NA of H3N2, H6N1, and H9N2, and vectors containing genes encoding PA, PB1, PB2, NP, and M were used to generate a novel vaccinal strain. Immunological studies have indicated that as few as 6 to 8 amino acid residues are needed to generate an antigenic determinant. Combination of antigens with favorable characteristics such as the ability to neutralize viruses with vector systems that enhance their recognition by the immune system also has the potential to rapidly create superior vaccines which are safer than ones made attenuated viruses.
A previously unaddressed need exists in the art to address the aforementioned deficiencies and inadequacies, especially in connection with development of T-cell vaccines against virus infection.